I am fascinated by rail yards. I have no idea when this happened or how, I didn't grow up around trains and don't have a reason for the affinity. But it is pictures like the one to the right that I think are wonderful metaphors for our life. When I am traveling through large cities I look for the rail yards to see how many people are crossing paths that day and wonder about their destinations.

As school has begun and we are turning from summer to fall programming I am somwhere in the midst of these swimming tracks. Think for a moment about what it takes to change tracks for a train. These "switches" only move a few inches and they are able to direct a multi ton vehicle onto a whole new path...or keep it from harm. Small movements can make big differences.

If trains take these changes too quickly they are prone to derailing. The train's wheels are taken from a wide place to a narrower place to change tracks. Going from the outside of the wheels to the inside to find the path. Too quickly and the wheels miss the change and derail. Thankfully we have wide places in the road that give a place to gather ourselves before heading to the narrow way...but rushing ahead without our senses can send us reeling.

I am switching tracks as kids get back school and focus changes. I am praying for patience and for sure footing and looking for the little things that will make a big difference. I don't see my life as complicated as the picture, but I know some lives that are that complicated. And I hope you will know peace this day or this moment. And this could be a wide place in the road for you before heading on down the line.

Peace

The Times They are a Changin..

It is early August and that is the time that we are usually getting final preparations in place for our Fall programming. Especially plans for our Weds night programming. However, the participants and volunteers and leaders have waned and we are now faced with making changes...like not having a Weds meal, or a children's program. I have wrestled with this for the past three months, and have been suspecting this is the path we will be taking for about 5 months. It just seemed like Weds nights ran out of gas. Families were running to and from practices, and trying to squeeze all the errands in to the hour that they were at church.

So we began evaluating and asking questions...what if we didn't do this anymore,what do you want your kids to get from church, what is important to you about your children...and interestingly enough...the answers were alot of ambivalence. Meaning - there were feelings on both sides of the spectrum but nothing strong enough to make a clear decision...just kind of muddy.

So, now I try to look into the crystal ball and see what this means in the near future. Are we experiencing the shrinkage that we've been hearing about, has the culture caught up with us? But even bigger, what will we do about it?..I am praying, and listening for the answers as they come. ANd I know this...our kids must know the church values them and cares for them, and they must hear the story of our faith so that they will carry it forward into the future. The question is simply how and who will come forward to help?

Please join me in prayer for our chlidren.